Kano Independent Research Centre Trust (KIRCT) has partnered with Tarouni Federal Constituency to offer free medical treatment to over 2,000 indigenes from Tarauni Local Government area. Residents were treated for a range of ailments such as high blood pressure, diabetes, malaria, and eye defects.
Professor Hamisu Salihu, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Kano Independent Research Centre (KIRCT), sponsored this free medical service towards upgrading the healthcare system in Kano. He said the focus was on the poor indigenes of Kano, especially women who cannot afford medical bills. The centre procured various drugs to ensure that those with different ailments were given appropriate treatment.
“We have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), where we refer some of the outpatients with complex medical treatment for further treatment. The Centre underwrites bills incurred at the close of the day,” Salihu said.
He noted that the centre is committed to creating employment opportunities for the army of unemployed youths in Kano who were trained in Syria, India, and Sudan. The plan is to engage and pay them their salaries, which will in turn help them become an asset to the society instead of a liability.
The KIRCT’s free medical outreach engaged the services of a range of medical experts such as general medical doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, health information management, and community workers. Aliyu Kabiru, a medical laboratory technician, highlighted that the intervention of the centre was intended to help the poor who cannot afford the high cost of medical services access free treatment for their various ailments.
The centre plans to extend this free medical outreach to an additional 15 local government areas in Kano state. For the successful continuation of this outreach, Professor Salihu appealed to the incoming government to support the centre’s efforts toward medicare for the good people of Kano, particularly those in the indigent class.